Old Forester Birthday Bourbon - 2002 Release

One of the very first releases in the modern Old Forester Birthday Bourbon series. Released September 2nd, 2002 — the birthday of founder George Garvin Brown — from a small batch of hand-selected 12-year-old barrels. The founding vintage of the annual series.

Old Forester Birthday Bourbon was introduced in 2002 as an annual tribute to founder George Garvin Brown, who established Old Forester in 1870 as America's first commercially bottled bourbon. The series — now one of the most anticipated annual American bourbon releases — began with modest fanfare and pre-dated the era of premium bourbon collecting entirely. The 2002 is therefore not merely a rare surviving vintage but the founding edition of a series that would become a defining annual event in American whiskey culture.

Finding surviving 2002 stock requires a specialty retailer with legacy inventory going back more than 20 years. Most 2002 bottles were consumed as a novelty release before the Birthday Bourbon series established its collector status. The 2002 now commands among the highest values of any Birthday Bourbon vintage precisely because of its founding significance and near-complete attrition of surviving stock.

Specs

• Distillery: Old Forester Distilling Co., Louisville, Kentucky (est. 1870)
• Style: Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Age: 12 years
• Release: September 2nd, 2002 — inaugural Birthday Bourbon
• Size: 750ml

Browse the full Old Forester collection or explore all bourbon at Wooden Cork.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Was 2002 the very first Birthday Bourbon? The modern Birthday Bourbon series began around 2002, making the 2002 release one of the inaugural editions. It predates the era of premium bourbon collecting by nearly a decade, meaning almost no one was saving bottles when it was released.
• Why is the 2002 so valuable today? Founding editions of major annual bourbon series carry both historical significance (the origin point of the series) and extreme rarity (virtually all were consumed before collecting infrastructure existed). The 2002 commands among the highest prices in the Birthday Bourbon lineup for both reasons.
• What is the Birthday Bourbon series? Released annually on September 2nd — founder George Garvin Brown's birthday — each edition is a unique small-batch of 12-year-old barrels. No two vintages share the same barrel selection or proof.
• Is Old Forester America's first bottled bourbon? Yes — George Garvin Brown began sealing bourbon in glass bottles with his signature in 1870, establishing the commercial bottling standard the entire industry follows today.